Frank Hodgers
Frank Hodgers — Character What Senior Books and Stories this Character Appears In * "Winter Was Hard" — Dreams Underfoot Defining Description or Bio Frank is a resident at St. Vincent’s Home for the Aged where Jilly volunteers twice a week. He was once a writer but his arthritis too bad to type or hold a pen. St. Vincents Jilly took care of him, one of her favorites so she saved him for last. About Personality and Character Frank's spirit was still held high despite his age—he could be cantankerous, but he was never bitter. Physical Decription Skinny, almost cadaverous. His cheeks were hollowed, eyes sunken, torso collapsed in on itself. Talent * Frank was a writer once. He says he stopped writing bcause "I’ve told all the tales I have to tell by now". Jiilly felt that it was more likely that his arthritis made it too difficult—he could barely hold a pen and he couldn't work a keyboard for any length of time. Other Details * Age: 87 * Frank died on the Winter Solstice * Frank had violet eyes, too, like Babe * He had all sorts of memories stored in his head. History / Background Jilly first met him last spring. His son had died, and with no where else to go, he’d come to live at St. Vincent’s. Connections (characters, places) To expand the table, right-press on a row of the table or (Control-press on a Mac)—choose add Events in the Series (spoilery area) "Winter was Hard" — Dreams Underfoot: Frank knew what Gemmens were from Jilly Coppercorn's sketches and that she told him the eldest one had violet eyes—which stood for memory. He told Jilly what he know about Gemmin from his grandmother. She left her sketchbook with him. Jilly wanted desperately to take Frank to see them believing that being with them would help him spiritually, but that was not possible. And, getting Babe and the other to see Frank seemed impossible too. And then the Gemmin were gone. When Jilly returned to Franks room, he had passed away that night before during the Winter Solstice, the same time the Gemmin left. He left a note in her sketchbook to her, saying how he hoped the Gemmmin would take him with him because he felt that he would have something to give in the next world while he was all used up in this one. Jilly belied he was with them and could here their voices singing, and Frank's too, in her heart and should rather than with her ears. When Jilly awoke a year later almost frozen in an abandoned car—miraculously found by Geordie—there was a violet flower in her jacket, very much like the one that Frank drew in her sketchbook. It's possible that Frank and the Gemmin sent Geordi to her before she froze. Jilly planted the violet in a pot in her window. ~ source: "Winter was Hard" Quotes Dying note to Jilly: : “I have to tell you this, Jilly. I never saw any real magic—I just pretended that I did. I only knew itthrough the stories I got from my gran and from you. But I always believed. That’s why I wrote all those stories when I was younger, because I wanted others to believe. I thought if enough of us did, if we learned to care again about the wild places from which we’d driven the magic away, then maybe it would return. : “I didn’t think it ever would, but I’m going to open my window tonight and call to them. I’m going to ask them to take me with them when they go. I’m all used up—at least the man I am in this world is—but maybe in another world I’ll have something to give. I hope they’ll give me the chance. : “The faerie folk used to do that in the old days, you know. That was what a lot of the stories were about—people like us, going away, beyond the fields we know." : “If they take me, don’t be sad, Jilly. I’ll be waiting for you there.” The script was almost illegible by the time it got near the end, but Jilly managed to decipher it all. Atthe very end, he’d just signed the note with an “F” with a small flower drawn beside it. It looked an awful lot like a tiny violet. Notes / Comments See Also * Jilly Coppercorn * Gemmins * Newford Series External Links * Charles de Lint - Dreams Underfoot *The Wordwood | Stories / WinterWasHard browse Category:Characters